"Life in prison is hard. I fell into despair. I was in this situation because I was trying to be a good citizen, to help people according to the law…But I was arrested and put in prison. I felt like I was in a dark tunnel with no way out".
A new report published by Amnesty International today casts a rare
light on the torture and other harrowing treatment of prisoners of
conscience locked up in Viet Nam’s secretive network of prisons and
detention centres.
“Viet Nam is a prolific jailer of prisoners of conscience; this
report offers a rare glimpse at the horror that those prisoners face in
detention,” said Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International’s Director for
South East Asia and the Pacific.
“Viet Nam ratified the UN Convention against Torture in 2015. This in
itself is not enough. In order to meet its human rights obligations,
the authorities must introduce reforms in line with international law
and ensure accountability for torture and ill treatment.”
The report is based on one year’s research – including more than 150
hours of interviews with 18 former prisoners of conscience, who spent
between one month and a decade in incarceration.
Five of these men and women described to Amnesty International how
they spent lengthy periods of time in solitary confinement in dark,
fetid cells without access to fresh air, clean water and sanitation.
Some were frequently beaten in clear contravention of global and
national prohibitions on torture.
In June, Amnesty International was given a guided tour of a women’s prison facility in Bắc Giang province, a rare occurrence in a country that does not generally permit access to these facilities.
Enforced disappearances, and other acts of torture and other ill-treatment
For many of the former prisoners, their ordeal began from the moment
that they were picked up by Vietnamese authorities. Four people told
Amnesty International they were subjected to enforced disappearances.
‘Dar’, an ethnic Montagnard, was arrested for organizing peaceful
demonstrations over religious freedom and human rights. For the first
three months following his arrest, his family believed that he had been
killed by the authorities, and his body dumped in the jungle. He was
tried and convicted without legal representation and without his family
present.
During the first 10 months of Dar’s five-year detention, he was kept
in solitary confinement in a tiny cell, in total darkness and complete
silence. For the first two months, he was hauled from his cell each day
to be interrogated and beaten.
The beatings were carried out with sticks, rubber tubes, punches and
kicks. The authorities used electric shocks and lit a piece of paper and
ran it along the length of his leg, burning his skin. They asked him to
assume painful stress positions for eight hours at a time.
On one occasion, he was hung from the ceiling by his arms for 15
minutes while the police beat him. The police officers would sometimes
resume their beatings in the middle of night, when they stormed into his
cell, apparently drunk.
For many of the former prisoners Amnesty International spoke to, the
torture and ill-treatment was especially intense during pre-trial
detention, as authorities aimed to extract a “confession”.
Incommunicado detention and solitary confinement
Every former prisoner of conscience that Amnesty International spoke
to was subjected to a lengthy period of incommunicado detention –
ranging from a month to two years. The right to access lawyers, medical
professionals and family members is an important safeguard against
torture and ill treatment, and critical to the right to a fair trial.
Two of the former prisoners were not told that their mothers had
passed away, and were denied the chance to attend the funeral or mourn
with their families.
Tạ Phong Tần, who was imprisoned for her blogging and advocacy
activities, told Amnesty International that during her four years in
prison, only her sister was allowed to visit her. After being denied
access twice, on 30 July 2012 Tần’s mother Đặng Thị Kim Liêng
self-immolated in front of a government office in protest, dying as a
result of her burns.
While their relatives were being kept away, the prisoners were sinking deeper into isolation.
Phạm Văn Trội, another former prisoner of conscience, was cast into
solitary confinement for over six months after he complained about fumes
from a nearby brick kiln. He told Amnesty International that he was
haunted by the thought that others might have died in the cell where he
slept.
Abuse and denial
When prisoners have not been kept in isolation, they have been left vulnerable to abuse by other prisoners.
The doctor hit me in the mouth with a round piece of hard rubber. He knocked my teeth out, including a wisdom tooth. I lost so much blood I passed out again
A number of former prisoners of conscience said they were cramped
into small cells, where other prisoners known as “antennae” were
believed to have colluded with prison authorities and incited to attack
them. This kept them under the constant threat of imminent violence.
Withholding or denying medical treatment for periods of months and
even years is another punitive measure prisoners described to Amnesty
International. Interviewees also alleged that they were drugged by
prison staff.
Chau Heng, a Khmer Krom land rights activist, told Amnesty
International that during four months’ incommunicado detention prior to
his trial, he was not only beaten unconscious several times, but also
injected with unknown drugs at least twice – causing memory loss,
rendering him unconscious and unable to speak or think clearly.
When he was taken to see the prison doctor, he opened his mouth to
gesture that he could not speak. “The doctor hit me in the mouth with a
round piece of hard rubber. He knocked my teeth out, including a wisdom
tooth. I lost so much blood I passed out again.”
“Viet Nam’s authorities should seize the moment as the country’s
amended penal and criminal procedures codes are being reviewed. Now is
the time to make good on their international obligations, by bringing to
book those responsible for torture and other ill-treatment, and
ensuring this appalling practice ends,” said Rafendi Djamin.
